Taozin

The taozin, also known as a "force dragon' was a giant annelid with many arms and legs native to the jungle moon of Va'art. Capable of spitting silken webbing to entrap its prey, taozins' natural shell armor was almost completely resistant to blasters^[3] and lightsabers. Their translucent body served to diffuse energy based weapons. A lightsaber in contact with the shell could retain enough cohesion to hurt the creature but not seriously wound it.^[4]

Force-sensitive creatures, taozin could interfere with the sense abilities of Force-sensitives, making them appear invisible in the Force.^[1] Darth Maul would describe attempting to sense one as "almost like encountering a surface so slick that one could find no purchase on it."^[4]

Finding their way all over the galaxy, taozin were thought to be extinct until Darsha Assant, Lorn Pavan, and I-5YQ stumbled across one circa 32 BBY while fleeing from Darth Maul in the depths of the Coruscant underworld. The Sith Lord eventually killed it by cutting the bridge that he and the taozin were on, letting it fall into the chasm below while Maul escaped.^[4]

Taozin nodules were small, roughly spherical objects taken from the skin of a taozin which could maintain the same Force-disguise that a living taozin could, causing wielders to be nearly undetectable in the force.^[1] In 32 BBY, I-5YQ took a nodule from the creature they encountered in the depths and gave it to Pavan. Pavan would use it to hide his presence during his unsuccessful assassination attempt on Maul.^[4] Similarly, in 18 BBY, Gregar Typho obtained a nodule from a Kubaz apothecary, while preparing for an attempt to assassinate Darth Vader. The apothecary considered it a "rare curiosity."^[5]

After the Galactic Empire came to power in 19 BBY, the members of the Inquisitorius were equipped with taozin amulets, which would mask their presence while on the hunt for rogue Jedi.^[5]